Gold futures ended lower in the domestic market on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September policy-setting meeting showed that central-bank officials held off on an interest-rate hike because downside risks had climbed. That implied the central bank may further delay raising rates, which is supportive for gold. Some of the selling may have been due to Chinese traders taking some profits on the recent strength in gold, following the end to the country’s “Golden Week” holiday. A reading of U.S. weekly jobless claims, which showed that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits marked its lowest level since mid-July, did little to change gold’s downward slide Thursday. At the MCX, Gold futures for December 2015 contract closed at Rs 26,446 per 10 gram, down by 0.41 per cent after opening at Rs 26,501, against the previous closing price of Rs 26,555. It touched the intra-day low of Rs 26,337.